I can still remember the first days of the breaking of the
Watergate Scandal in the press. It eventually toppled President
Nixon, as revelations of spying on and lying to the American
people poured out.

As Congress grappled with promising to forever fix these egregious
abuses of power and the corrupting of the Constitution, a
document they swore to defend, my idealistic hope was that
we as a nation might never have to confront such internal
evils again. Yet, as is said, the price of freedom is eternal
vigilance, and our problem of late has been that this republic
has been too frightened to be vigilant.

Rep. John Conyers, Jr., the ranking member of the House Judiciary
Committee, released a damning report on the Bush administration
last week. In brief, this report states quite bluntly that
“We have found that there is substantial evidence the President,
the Vice President and other high ranking members of the Bush
Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding
the decision to go to war with Iraq; misstated and manipulated
intelligence information regarding the justification for such
war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment and other legal violations in Iraq; and permitted
inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration”

The report goes on to say that there is “a prima facie [self
evident] case that these actions by the President, Vice-President
and other members of the Bush Administration violated a number
of federal laws, including (1) Committing a Fraud against
the United States; (2) Making False Statements to Congress;
(3) The War Powers Resolution; (4) Misuse of Government Funds;
(5) federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture
and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; (6) federal laws
concerning retaliating against witnesses and other individuals;
and (7) federal laws and regulations concerning leaking and
other misuse of intelligence.”

These are accusations that many of us have been lodging repeatedly
for the past two years. And now on top of these high crimes,
Bush admits on national TV that he approved the domestic surveillance
policy that spied on American citizens, without even getting
the legal authority or even giving more than a handful of
Congress members full and concise briefings on the scope of
this abrogation of laws. This now amounts to eight potential
counts for impeachment. Need we bring the list to nine or
10 before articles to impeach are drafted? I hardly think
so!

Why is it only now that the Democratic minority has found
the belated courage to do as they are sworn to do? How is
it that Rep. Jane Harman, the ranking Democrat on the House
Intelligence Committee, just now reveals that she knew about
the highly classified program that was subsequently used as
a disguise for domestic surveillance?

She claims that, “Due to its sensitive nature, I have been
barred from discussing any aspect of this program, and until
the President described certain parts of it on Saturday [Dec.
18], I have made no comment whatsoever.” Is it that she is
confused about her duty to defend the Constitution against
enemies both foreign and domestic?

It is becoming increasingly clear that Team Bush has overstepped
its authority, using the Vietnam-era strategy of “destroying
the village to save it,” only now those in power are questioning
whether destroying the Constitution to save the nation isn’t
a dangerously similar game plan. It is disastrously similar,
and in the end Bush and his lockstep neocons will do more
damage “protecting the nation” than Al Qaeda could ever hope
to do attacking the cities of our republic. You simply cannot
place a price tag on liberty.

Harman only now admits that, “I am deeply concerned by reports
that this program . . . goes far beyond the measures to target
Al Qaeda about which I was briefed.” Her public statement
goes on to list three issues: “(1) It was inappropriate to
limit congressional briefings on this program to the so-called
Gang of Four—the most senior majority and minority members
of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. (2) Domestic-to-domestic
surveillance requires the approval of a FISA court. It has
always been my view that the President must seek FISA approval
if domestic-to-domestic surveillance is involved. The FISA
statute allows a 72-hour grace period in an emergency. (3)
The Blue Ribbon Commission called for by a number of House
Democrats is a very good idea. Once armed with full information,
Congress can and should change the laws regarding domestic
surveillance if warranted.”

She concludes, “We must use all lawful tools to detect and
disrupt the plans of our enemies; signals intelligence and
the work of the NSA are vital to that mission. But in doing
so, it is also vital that we protect the American people’s
constitutional rights.”

And just how can we trust Harman, who sits as our watchdog
in Congress, or Bush, Cheney and the others to protect our
rights now? The truth is—we can’t!

If Jane Harman is ever to regain any semblance of integrity,
it is imperative that she, as ranking member of the House
Intelligence Committee, help to draft the first articles of
impeachment and to use all her years of experience to execute
their passage.

In the final analysis we all must ask ourselves and our leaders,
“just how can we lead any nation on earth, including Iraq,
to accept the rule of law and democracy when we do such a
poor job of it at home?”

The prima facie evidence is here to indict the president,
vice president and other members of the Bush administration
for violating at least eight federal laws, even openly admitting
to violating one on national TV. It is time for Congress to
act before this country ends up like the Weimar Republic before
the Nazis took over Germany. There are some who believe that
it is perhaps already too late.